


you're different

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bullying, Itty Bitty Thing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 14:48:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/787250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ziall oneshot written by haz for the prompt: “Can you do a Ziall one where Niall is bullied by Josh, and Zayn is the new and perfect Bradford exchange student, and sticks up for Niall who automatically likes him, and falls for him, weeks later he ‘finds’ Zayn’s diary, and reads it, gets caught and confronts Zayn, who has feelings for the boy too? Please with Ziall feels on top??”</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're different

“Dumb fag,” the boy said with a laugh.

Niall gulped, turning slowly, daring to walk away. He stopped, though, when he felt the tug on his rucksack. He sighed when the tugging got harder, and he had no choice but to turn around. “I’m staying out of your way, Josh, I get it. Jus’ leave me alone, yeh?” Niall said quietly.

Josh scowled, shoving Niall back into the lockers. “Long as you’re in my halls, you’re not far enough away. Fuck off, fag.”

Niall was in pain, yes, but Niall wasn’t what you’d call weak. He was smart, smarter than most people assumed him to be. He knew how to deal with the bullying. “I’ll jus’ be fucking off then,” he said slowly, sliding away from Josh. Before he could say another word, he bolted.

The only problem was that Josh was waiting for Niall after the final bell, lounging admittedly menacingly against the side of the building. Before Niall could do anything, Josh and his friend Aidan were descending upon him. “Think it’s about time you got the hell out of our town, don’t you? Jesus, faggot, don’t you fucking get it?” Josh spat, shoving Niall back.

Niall closed his eyes briefly. Josh had speed, muscles, backup, and brutality on his side. Niall had nothing, no one. “Just let me go home. I’ll be out of your hair then, that’s what you want, innit?”

Josh grabbed one of Niall’s wrists before the blond boy could jerk away. He twister roughly, but Niall knew better than to cry out. A few stray eyes were on them, Niall could just feel it, and yet no one did a thing. This was not abnormal.

“Think you’re clever?” And then Josh twisted, hard. Niall could help but let out a gasp, trying desperately to jerk away without looking weak. He tried to look up into Josh’s eyes, wanting desperately to fight back, but Niall knew that he couldn’t.

But then another voice came into the picture. “Oi, the fuck you think you’re doing, douchebag? Leave him alone.” The voice was rough but strong, and Niall desperately wanted to turn around and see the guy behind it. The cigarette smoke and british accent (Bradford, maybe?) stuck out to Niall, being quite rare for Niall’s small Irish town.

Josh froze, looking behind Niall’s shoulder, and in that moment Niall slipped out of his grasp, falling backwards and rubbing his wrists manically. Shaken, he bumped into someone. The boy was beautiful, like really fucking beautiful, with long black eyelashes and high cheekbones and a quiff that put Niall’s own to shame. The boy glanced wildly at Niall, stomping out his cigarette before grabbing at Niall’s shoulders and shaking him slightly. “Y’alright?” he asked. Niall could do nothing but nod.

“Not done with you, fag,” Josh snapped. However, the boy walked away then, undoubtly intimidated by Niall’s defender.

“You sure you’re alright?” the boy said, big brown eyes wide and worried.

Niall nodded once more, still a bit shaken. “Thanks. I’m Niall. Horan. You really didn’t have to do that, you know.” As hard as Niall tried, he couldn’t look away from where the other boy was still gripping at Niall’s forearms lightly.

“Yes, I did. Dude’s a right fucking prick. I’m Zayn.” Following Niall’s gaze, the boy- Zayn- dropped his hands and backed up slightly, giving Niall a small smile.

“I… Thanks.” Niall swallowed because wow Zayn’s eyes were so fucking beautiful. “But honestly, I don’t want to attract attention towards you. Trust me, it ain’t the finest bein’ on their radar,” Niall said.

Zayn’s gaze was unreadable. He reached into the pocket of his worn jean jacket and pulled out a fresh cigarette. Niall averted his gaze, shuffling his feet awkwardly. “Y’alright? I don’t have to, you know…” he gestured at the his cigarette rather than lighting it.

“No, no, it’s ok! I’ve just never, you know, tried one?” Niall laughed nervously, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Zayn laughed lightly. “Well then I’m not gonna be the one to get you started. Nasty habit, I’m telling you. Anyway, I should, uh, go. I’ve got to get back in time to watch my sisters…” Zayn trailed off, cheeks turning light pink as if he’d already said too much. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around, right? Take care of yourself, those guys seem atrocious.”

Now it was Niall’s turn to blush. “Yeah, yeah, no yeah, I’m all good. Thanks again, erm, Zayn. Was quite cool of you and all.” He shuffled his supras again, grabbing at the straps on his rucksack. He nodded a third time, regrettably awkward, and forced himself to turn away.

 

Niall didn’t see much of Zayn the next few days. He did, however, see plenty of Josh and his crew. The days went on as normal, with Niall being shoved into lockers, down stairs, and into the parking lot after school. 

When a week had passed since meeting Zayn, Niall was starting to convince himself that the boy had simply showed up on vacation. It seemed there was no possible was Zayn could be within the same walls of Niall, when Niall hadn’t once seen him. Nevermind the fact that Zayn had been wearing Niall’s strict college uniform. And as much as this depressed Niall, he knew he should just forget the boy, that beautiful boy with the honest eyes and the brave personality.

And so Niall did, sort of. Forget Zayn, that is. Up until two weeks had gone by. When Niall felt a tap on his shoulder, he didn’t react. He held his head high and waited until the tapping stopped, anticipating the taunts and threats to follow. However, it was Zayn’s voice that interrupted Niall’s scattered thoughts.

“Niall, innit?”

Niall turned around, ears pink. “Zayn!” Niall gulped. “Er, hey. How you doing?”

Zayn held his books in his leather-clad arms. Niall refused to drool, though. No matter how bloody hot the other boy looked, Niall would not drool. “I’m well. Hope all’s okay?” he asked, and Niall could just tell by his voice what the other boy as really asking about.

Niall tapped his toes together. “S’alright.” There was a bit of a pause as few kids went running by, sprinting through the courtyard to their cars. Niall watched Josh’s back as he walked passed him, and he could feels his eyes widen. Zayn had scared of Josh, yet again. “You’re like my bloody guardian angel, you know that?” Niall blurted.

Zayn laughed softly. “What do you mean?”

“The idiot just walked fucking by,” Niall said, gesturing. 

Zayn was quiet for a moment. “Niall, I was wondering… do you, like, want to hang out sometime? I mean, like… yeah.”

Niall coughed. “Uh, yes! I mean, yeah, yeah I’d love to. Things’ve gotten a bit drab since Harry and Louis moved away.” Immediately, Niall regretted bringing them up, but he had, just had, to let Zayn know that he actually did in fact have friends. Liam was just doing the semester abroad at and athletics-oriented college, while Louis and Harry had moved to London together. Niall was lonely sometimes, sure, but he wasn’t alone. He had other friends, just none brave enough to stand up to Josh quite like Zayn had.

The other boy nodded slowly. “Right, well. Do you have a number?” Zayn asked, pulling out his phone. Niall rattled the numbers off quickly, watching Zayn’s long fingers as he typed. “Yeah, ok cool. I’ll talk to you later, then?”

Niall nodded, perhaps a bit too eagerly, and watched Zayn stupidly as the other boy walked away.

But when he saw a small journal on the ground at his feet, Niall didn’t call out for Zayn to stop. Because written messily on the open page was Niall’s own name.

 

When Niall arrived at the bakery, he was only five minutes late, a sure record for him. He spotted Zayn easily, sitting casually at a back table with his feet crossed in front of him and his tattooed arms resting on the table as he read from a book.

“Zayn,” Niall said, sliding into the seat across from him. “You dropped this earlier.”

Zayn looked up, smiling warmly, before looking down at the journal in Niall’s hands. Zayn’s journal. Zayn’s face clouded for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Whoops,” he said softly.

“I.. I didn’t, like, pry or summat. I just.. like. Saw my name?” Niall grabbed at one of the biscuits on the table to stop himself from saying more.

To Niall’s surprise, Zayn didn’t even flinch. “You’re different. I like you,” he said with a shrug, pushing his book aside. When they’re eyes met, Niall realised Zayn was being completely honest. 

Almost manically, Niall started to laugh. “Me? But, like… you’re like… amazing, you know?” he said, cheeks flaming. SHoving more food in his mouth, Nill dared himself not to look away from Zayn’s gaze.

Zayn smirked, reaching out to brush a bit of food from Niall’s face. The blond boy froze mid-chew, convincing himself not to moan when Zayn’s warmed hand brushed his cheek. God, he was such a girl. When Zayn pulled away, he said, “Look at you,” and started laughing. “I’d say it’s quite hard not to fancy you.”

Niall swallowed, but then Zayn started laughing again, and holy shit was his laugh like a drug, and then Niall was swallowing his food and laughing too and they were both laughing and Zayn was reaching out and Niall was snatching up his hand and they were laughing together and holding hands and Niall was realising that maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad year.

**Author's Note:**

> written by haz


End file.
